February is National Black History Month. It is a time dedicated to celebrating the generations of contributions of Black Americans. Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard trained historian, selected February as a time to honor the progress within America towards a more equitable society. We continue to observe Black History Month as a time to reflect on the innumerable achievements of Black Americans.
Vista Unified is committed to ensuring each and every learner is guaranteed equitable access to the conditions of learning necessary to promote academic excellence and innovation. Therefore, VUSD adopted the National Equity Project’s definition and elevated “equity” as an essential core value.
Celebrate Black History Month and the contributions of Black Americans with your learners by exploring The Library of Congress and National Archives resources.
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!
In January, VUSD’s The Learning Collaborative kicked off “Turning the Page with TLC.” The focus is to promote and model a love for reading as district administrators, teachers, and staff recorded themselves reading children’s books for students. By modeling reading in both English and Spanish, students can be exposed to stories they may not have heard before and more fully open their minds to the world of reading.
Building confident readers starts with a positive relationship and identity with reading. Reading fluency and comprehension grows as learners engage in reading throughout their day. Families can partner in creating a network of opportunities for students to engage with reading through experiencing and exploring new stories. Check out these at home reading strategies to support the development of confident readers (ENGLISH).
Every school district in the state of California is required to develop a Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) to outline the actions and services that will support student academic, social, and behavioral achievement. We call our LCAP the Blueprint for Educational Excellence and Innovation. The LCAP must go through an annual revision process to ensure that students, parents, teachers, and staff members have the opportunity to provide feedback on the current actions and services and to make suggestions for additional actions and services that students need to reach their full potential as learners. We are hosting community forums and a district-wide survey to capture this feedback. Please see the information below to share your voice and engage in our annual LCAP revision process.
Community Forums:
Virtual Community Forum - March 1st from 5:30-6:30 pm, Click HERE for a Zoom link
In-Person Community Forum - March 7th from 5:30-6:30 pm at the Vista Innovation Center
Survey:
Plans are underway to offer elementary, middle, and high school students the opportunity to attend summer school at sites across the district.
Elementary summer school is scheduled from June 12th to June 30th.Students will have the opportunity to brush up on reading and math skills and take part in science activities and other enriching programs during the session. Specific information on which sites will offer summer school and registration will be forthcoming in future community updates.
Middle school students will have access to bridge and enrichment programs at each school site. Some students will be invited to participate in bridge programs, which will provide targeted learning opportunities to prepare students academically for the upcoming school year. Each middle school will also offer enrichment opportunities in a variety of disciplines. Students and families will receive additional information about the specific programs offered at their schools in the coming months.
At the high school level, students will have access to a multi-tiered system of summer school programs. Some of our incoming 8th graders will be invited to participate in a bridge program at the school they will attend in the fall. Each high school will offer a variety of enrichment opportunities for their students, and all current high school students will have the option of remediating failing grades for both the fall and spring semesters. In addition, we are maintaining our program for our current seniors who need to finish a few more credits in order to graduate in July. Students and families will receive additional information about the programs and enrollment in the coming months.
Magnet School applications are still being accepted for families interested in having their student attend one of Vista Unified’s five magnet schools. Applications and additional information can be found by visiting the Vista Unified Magnet Webpage. The window to apply for a middle or high magnet school closes on February 17th at 4:30pm. The application window for elementary school remains open through April 7th.
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is an evidence-based, tiered framework for supporting students’ behavioral development and effective interactions at school. When implemented with fidelity, PBIS improves students’ social emotional competence, academic success, and school climate as well as teacher health and wellbeing. It is a way to create positive, predictable, equitable, and safe learning environments where everyone thrives.
In VUSD this year, we have 11 schools that have established PBIS teams that include teachers, administrators, counselors, classified staff, and parents who have been participating in an intensive professional development series with ongoing coaching and school visits to help each school develop and begin implementing a personalized Tier 1 PBIS plan: Bobier, Empresa, Hannalei, Lake, Maryland, Mission Meadows, Monte Vista, THE Leadership Academy, Rancho Minerva, Roosevelt, and Madison. We also have one school, Grapevine, that has already received state recognition for their Tier 1 PBIS system and has continued with their team to design and begin implementation of their Tier 2 PBIS plan. Each year, these schools will expand to develop and implement plans for each of the three tiers of instruction and intervention. The remaining VUSD schools will be identifying PBIS teams this spring to prepare to launch their Tier 1 professional development and planning.
Did you know that in 2021, there were 224 fentanyl-related overdose deaths among teens aged 15-19 years old in California? Fighting the fentanyl epidemic will take all of us. Recently, Vista Unified has taken bold steps to ensure that all site administrators are trained in the use of Naloxone/Narcan and AEDs, or automated external defibrillators, in the event of a fentanyl crisis at school. Also, every VUSD school now has Naloxone/Narcan in its nurse’s office.
Conversations can have a big impact. We encourage parents to empower themselves and their teens with knowledge of how to stop drug overdoses and save lives. Talk with your teen about:
The dangers of fentanyl
The risks of drugs, alcohol, and vaping products on developing minds
How Naloxone/Narcan can save lives
Visit the Vista Health and Safety webpage, and watch Rocky Heron’s presentation on the dangers of opioid and fentanyl.
It was recently announced by the Health and Human Services Agency that Naloxone/Narcan is available to the public. Naloxone/Narcan is a medicine that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. Parents/Guardians can visit sandiegocounty.gov for information on how they may receive a free Naloxone/Narcan kit. Kits are also available from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.
Vista Unified School District
Email: webmaster@vistausd.org
Website: vistausd.org
Location: 1234 Arcadia Avenue, Vista, CA, USA
Phone: (760) 726-2170
Twitter: @VistaBlueprint